Some groups are more anarchist, others are more communist. It really depends on the individual as well as the city, and who is organizing them.

So neither words describe Antifa generally, just some of the individual members and perhaps some of the subgroups which could be either or neither. Their general, overall activity and sole mission is to oppose white supremacy.

So I have to ask: Why use the general smear anarchist/communist for the entire organization?

Some people in Antifa are teenagers or in their 20’s and 30’s and do not understand they’re marching under a communist flag.

So they are neither anarchists or communists. They are solely focused on opposing white supremacy.

think just because Antifa opposes Trump that it is cool to join them…

Yes, Trump has been a positive GIFT to the left. It’s a gift that keeps on giving and giving and giving! Finding out that he enables racists is just a pretty bow on top of the box.

which has pretty much been taken over by the Antifa Alt-left, and no longer reflects true anarchism.

If Antifa are anarchists that means anarchists would embrace them as brothers. Why would their presence drive out anarchists if they are fellow travelers? My guess is that Antifa has antifascism as a sole focus and the “anarchists” on Redit are white supremacists.

Antifa is arguably an offshoot of both BLM and Occupy

They certainly share common cause with BLM because both are opposed to racism and white supremacy.

Antifa using fireworks, clubs, bats, glass bottles, even rocks to assault hundreds of people

yeah, I wish they wouldn’t to that. It’s stupid. Of course, it’s nothing compared to the genocide, lynchings, bombings and murders committed by white supremacists, but I never liked the argument “they are worse!”

Authoritarian communists only care if you agree with them, and will label you a fascist and attack you if you disagree with them regardless of what your actual political beliefs are

authoritarian communists and anarchists are 180deg opposites. Antifa only opposes racism, white supremacy and fascists. They do attack people who are those things and will not be in any way nice to people who support them, defend them, protect them, or in any way facilitate their evil agenda. There’s not much gray area here.

[CNN] is propaganda designed to normalize Antifa’s behavior

If that were true, they would have left the article and headline unedited.

I’m not going to defend Neo-Nazis, but nor will I defend and normalize Antifa who are more than just anti-Nazi. They’re communists and anarchists and they don’t really give a shit what people like you and I believe and they will use violence against us if they disagree with us.

and we have both demonstrated that you can’t be a communist and an anarchist. You are one or the other because communism is authoritarian and anarchism is anti-authoritarian. You just have to pick a better straw man. Good luck with that.

No, you hate them for the same reason you hate BLM — they are anti-racist and anti-white supremacist. And they are willing to use violence against people advocating for subjugation of most of the human race or their outright extermination.

I think the Antifa is not a threat to anyone except fascists and their enablers. I got that from Antifa blogs, websites and discussion boards that I have plunged into in the last week or so. They have zero political agenda and zero economic agenda. Couldn’t possibly care less. Their entire focus is on fighting back against the white supremacy. Toward that end they appear not to mind using violence.

I agree most of them are very young. They don’t understand Gandhi or MLK or the reason or morality behind non-violent protest. They don’t just think all that stuff is old fashioned. They probably think it’s all deeply historical and irrelevant to them. They see somebody advocating subjugation through terrorism and they think violence is the answer.

I disagree with the violence, but I love all the other stuff they do. They photograph white supremacists and send post those photos on the web and/or send them to employers. They march in protest every time the KKK or their fellow Nazis and fascists march. They track white supremacist meetings, gatherings, protests, marches, etc. They alert locals when those murders and terrorists are going to be in their area.

Yep, they do get called “communist” a lot because there’s not much worse insult than “fascist” and you’ve got to scrape together SOMETHING to make them sound bad. Otherwise somebody might think they were noble for coming together to fight one of the most nauseating evils this planet has ever produced.